


Where Would You Go

by aflawedfashion



Category: Will & Grace
Genre: Angst, Breakup, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 18:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21020213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflawedfashion/pseuds/aflawedfashion
Summary: Will during the last day of his relationship with Vince





	Where Would You Go

Will set his suitcase down by the door, feeling practically dizzy as he said, “I spent the last hour trying to think of the perfect words to say, but the only word left unsaid is goodbye.” 

Vince stood up fom the table, staring at Will from across the room. His mouth hung agape in shock as if he expected Will to continue speaking, but Will truly had nothing left to say, nothing that wouldn’t rehash an argument he had already lost.

Will watched as Vince mussed his hair and folded his arms across his chest, shifting from foot to foot before finally asking, “You’re leaving?”

“It’s over.” Will shrugged his shoulders in defeat. “You were abundantly clear about that, and if I stay in this apartment, sleeping across the hall from you every night, I’m never going to believe it. I’m never going to let you go.” Will glanced towards the separate bedrooms they’d been living in for two weeks. “I tried to pretend you were Grace, that living like this was fun and normal just like it was with her, but it’s not. It’s killing me to live with you and not have you.” 

“You’re right,” Vince said. “This isn’t working, but this is your apartment. I should be the one to leave.”

“Where would you go?” 

“I don’t know… a hotel.”

“You can’t afford it,” Will said. “I can, so stay for however long it takes for you to find a new place.” 

“I break your heart, and you still think of me.” Vince gave Will a half-smile. “You’re a good man, Will Truman.” 

“It’s the right thing to do.”

Vince opened his mouth to argue, but simply nodded. “I’ll get out as soon as I can.” 

“Take your time.” Will grabbed the handle to his suitcase, gripping it so tightly his fingers stung, and his heart began to race as he said, “goodbye.” It was the worst adrenaline rush of his life.

“I’m sorry,” Vince said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t love you the way you needed me to.”

“Me too.” Will stepped into the hallway, dragging his suitcase behind him. Tears stung at his eyes, but he refused to cry in front of Vince again, refused to make a fool of himself again. He wouldn’t beg Vince to love him, but as the door closed behind him, he whispered, “I still love you,” to the empty hallway.

\--

Will collapsed into an oversized leather chair at the end of a long corridor of mahogany doors, his suitcase falling to the floor beside him. He watched it hit the ground with a thud, but he didn’t have the energy to pick it up, didn’t have the energy to care. He had pushed himself to his limits and felt like he would collapse if he stood up again.

Men had broken his heart before, but he’d never been so destroyed by the pain, not even after Michael left him questioning everything he knew of love. He was younger when his relationship with Michael ended, young enough to find hope for the future through the pain. But he wasn’t young anymore. He’d already lost two great loves and wasn’t sure he’d get a third. The universe was rarely that kind to anyone.

A door opened, and Will buried his face in his hands, hoping to blend in with the wallpaper before anyone noticed his presence.

“You’re not supposed to sleep in the hallway.”

“I wasn’t sleeping.”

“You’re not supposed to cry out here either.” Grace sunk into the chair beside him, pressing her body against his as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “You can come in, you know.”

“What about Leo?” 

“He’s working all night.”

“Then I’ll be gone by morning,” Will said. “He won’t even know I was here.” 

“Stay as long as you need to.” 

“I can’t, Grace. You’re already struggling to make your marriage work. We can’t keep leaning on each other like nothing’s changed.”

“How I feel about you will never change. Leo understands that.” She placed her hand on the side of his head and guided him into a snuggling position against her chest. “You’ve taken me in every time I’ve shown up crying at your doorstep. I owe you so much more than a few weeks in my guest bedroom.” 

“You don’t owe me anything,” Will said.

“I owe you everything. Whatever you need, I’ll get it for you.” 

“I need him. I don’t need anything else.” 

“Well,” Grace spoke softly, a hint of levity in her voice. “I have Skinny Girl wine, a box of donuts, and a book of magic spells. I’ll see what I can do.”

A light chuckle escaped from Will’s dry, hoarse throat that quickly turned into a coughing fit. 

Grace pulled the water bottle from his fallen suitcase and handed it to him. “You’re really in rough shape, aren’t you?” she asked with so much worry in her voice that Will wanted to lie to make her feel better, but he couldn’t lie to her. She was the only person who knew how bad the last two weeks had been, the only person he didn’t need to put on a brave face for. They had held each other after every breakup since their junior year of college, suffering every anguish and heartbreak together.

“Yeah, I guess am.” Will took long slow breaths, leaning back against Grace, listening to her heart beat against her chest as he calmed. “I kind of forgot how to live.” 

“I’m glad you got out of there. I was getting so worried that I almost dragged you out myself. It wasn’t healthy.”

“I see that now, but… but Vince apologized for being incapable of loving me.” Will stared straight ahead as he asked, “Am I really that hard to love?”

“No, Will, of course not.” Grace held Will with more strength than he knew she was capable of. “I’ve never stopped loving you for a minute, not even in our worst arguments, not even in our lowest moments. I couldn’t stop loving you if I tried.”

“I love you too.” Will closed his eyes and relaxed into Grace’s arms. “More than you know.” 

“I know exactly how much this relationship means to both of us.” She caressed the side of his face. “Falling apart on a doorstep is my job, remember? And I’m so sorry you had to find out what it feels like to be on this side of the door.”

“It hurts,” Will said. “More than I thought it would.”

“I know.” Grace kissed the top of his head, holding him until his breathing slowed and the world faded into a dreamless sleep. When he opened his eyes and brushed a mess of red hair out of his face, he found himself watching Leo’s clumsy attempt at sneaking into his own apartment.

“Hey,” Will said, his voice raspy and exhausted.

“Didn’t mean to wake you,” Leo said. “But now that you are awake, I want to point out that you don’t need to sleep in a chair. I put fresh sheets on the guest bed before I left.” 

“Because you knew Grace wouldn’t?” 

“We both know how she is about sheets.” Leo gave Will a sympathetic smile and asked, “You ok?”

“No, not really.” 

“I’m sorry,” Leo said. “You hungry? I know it’s not much, but food helps, and I’m in the mood to cook.”

”Thanks.” Will gave Leo a polite smile as his stomach growled in a reminder that he hadn’t eaten properly in days. Grace was right. It wasn’t healthy to stay in that apartment, stewing in his own misery, forgetting to take care of himself. “Bacon sounds good.” 

“Bacon?” Grace’s head snapped up from Will’s shoulder. “I want bacon.”

“Alrighty then. I’ll start making a feast fit for a small village,” Leo said as he disappeared into their apartment and closed the door behind him.

“Did we sleep out here all night?” Grace yawned and stretched her arms over her head. “We haven’t slept in the same chair since… well… since we fell asleep in the extra-large seat at that fancy new movie theater like 3 weeks ago.” 

“I can’t believe the usher kicked us out. I mean, they can spend a fortune on CGI aliens, but they can’t come up with an original plot? It’s ridiculous. I’m not staying awake for that.”

“I don’t know what the world’s coming to.” Grace shook her head in disgust before squeezing his hand. “Oh, hey, that reminds me, I got you, me, and Jack tickets to see the new superhero movie at that weird dinner theater we used to go to all the time. I figure we can order a bottle of wine and take a drink every time they say something homoerotic. The plot will be just as unoriginal, but the shirtless men and gay undertones will make up for it.”

“Which movie?”

“Does it matter? They’re all gay.” 

“Of course.” Will held up his hands in surrender. “You’re right.”

“I always am.” Grace rubbed her hand up and down Will’s back. “And you look better.”

“I feel better.” Will shifted his body, pulling Grace’s legs over his lap. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “And you’ll never have to.”

  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure this is 100% canon compliant, but hey, it's Will & Grace. Who needs canon compliance when I had plot points for this fic I wanted to reach.
> 
> I wrote this fic because I wanted to put Will in the position Grace often found herself in after a breakup - especially after Nathan where she was an absolute wreck. Will isn't as prone to falling apart as badly after a relationship as Grace is, and the main apartment is his apartment, so he doesn't have to look for a place to live after a relationship fails, and I wanted to put him in that position. I wanted to write a fic where he was at her doorstep, so I had him leave his apartment for a bit.
> 
> Sorry, Will, I was in the mood to write angst.


End file.
